Malpractice is the negligent failure of licensed professionals to meet the standards of practice of the profession to which they belong. Medical malpractice occurs when patients are seriously damaged because healthcare providers and medical facilities fail to meet the standard of good medical practice in the areas in which they specialize. A healthcare provider may be a doctor, nurse, allied health professional (e.g., respiratory technician, physical therapist), or other individual assisting with treatment of patients under the direction of a licensed professional.

Examples of medical malpractice by healthcare providers include failures to diagnose conditions and diseases, such as cancer, when proper and timely diagnosis could have afforded the opportunity for effective treatment and increased quality of life. Medication errors may also constitute medical malpractice and occur in a variety of ways: a physician may erroneously order the wrong medication dosage for a patient’s condition, or a pharmacist may fill that prescription inaccurately, with both errors leading to the suffering of severe adverse reactions by their patients. Mistakes occurring during surgical, obstetric, and diagnostic procedures may also constitute malpractice when those errors cause harm to patients as a result of the negligence of the health care professional.

Examples of medical malpractice occurring in medical facilities range from failing to provide an adequate level of qualified staff to ensure patient safety to improperly calibrating instruments to maintaining unsanitary areas to which patients are exposed.

Medical malpractice legal procedures in Louisiana require that any claims against qualified healthcare providers must first be presented to a medical review panel before a law suit can be filed. Martzell & Bickford views this panel procedure as an opportunity to conduct an intensive review of the claim in order to understand whether the adverse outcome lies in negligence or is instead the result of unfortunate circumstance.

If you believe you have suffered malpractice at the hands of a healthcare provider or medical facility, it is important for you to seek counsel as soon as possible once you learn of the harm you may have suffered. The law provides very strict time limits within which claims may be brought against healthcare providers, and if you wait too long to investigate, the time within which you can bring a claim may expire..

If you are the victim of medical malpractice, our firm may be able to help you. Please contact us.

A Few Examples of Our Successful Representations:

Despite documented warnings of patient’s suicidal tendencies, psychiatric hospital and treating physician and therapists failed to take the necessary steps to prevent patient from hanging himself in his room with his own belt.

Physician failed to review radiologist report that lung x-ray showed a suspicious lesion that was likely cancerous, and patient was never told the results of that x-ray until some eighteen months later, when she was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and metastatic disease.

Resident emergency room physician administered proper diagnostic tests but failed to understand results, which clearly indicated child had acute appendicitis. Child and family continued on to another city, where child was hospitalized for emergency surgery as a result of perforated appendix and peritonitis.

Hospital rehabilitation unit failed to provide adequate staff to prevent mobile elderly patient from getting out of bed to use the in-room toilet, even though the patient, who had just received a hip replacement, was not allowed out of bed without assistance. The patient suffered a second broken hip in the fall.

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